


I'll love you forever; I'll like you for always

by KitKatScribbles



Series: Pearlina One Shots 🦑🐙🌈💚💖 [1]
Category: Splatoon
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Mutual Pining, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-19 09:55:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19972138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KitKatScribbles/pseuds/KitKatScribbles
Summary: Sleeping is difficult to do sometimes and so is confessing your feelings.





	I'll love you forever; I'll like you for always

**Author's Note:**

> I hope one shots mean writing a single chapter and never editing it so you don't second guess yourself and you just post it because that's what I'm doing. Lol I wrote this for fun, so I'm not going to stress about the intricacies or flaws. I'm posting it as is - first draft and unedited.

“Pearl? Are you still up?”

The small Inkling slowly rose and rubbed her eyes. “Hmm?” Pearl was not up, but she is now. Though, Marina doesn’t need to know that.

Except she’s not completely oblivious. “Sorry, did I wake you up?”

“Nah,” Pearl lied with a rough voice. She cleared her throat and continued, “what’s up?”

Marina knew, but she wasn’t going to continue that line of questioning. “I was wondering if I could sleep here for the night?”

“Nightmare?”

“Yeah…”

Pearl sighed, she absolutely did not mind sharing her bed with Marina, but the frequencies of the younger girl’s night terrors was concerning. At this point, Marina might as well just share the room with Pearl. That… might be really nice actually… Her king-sized bed was always too large for her; the dozens of pillows occupying the empty space were never enough to keep her warm. Waking to the sight of Marina by her side every single morning sounds wonderous… No. Pearl shook her head to chase those thoughts out and to wake herself up. She lifts her comforter and pats the bed next to her side. That invited in the cold winter air looming in their apartment, but it was quickly replaced with Marina’s warmth. The Octoling scooted as close as she possibly could next to Pearl and wrapped her arms around the shorter girl’s midriff. Cod, sometimes she just wasn’t fair. Hugging her like this should be illegal. They’re friends. They’re friends, they’re friends, they’re friends, they’re--

“Pearl?”

“Huh?”

“You okay? Sorry, did you want some space?”

“Oh, hah, nah, I’m just… thinking…”

Marina’s brows furrowed. Instead of prodding further, she decided to make a quip, “Pearl thinking? The ocean must’ve frozen over.” She grins at Pearl.

Pearl can’t help but to break into a smile of her own. “Hey! Maybe you can take your sass elsewhere and shove it!”

“You’re kicking me out alreadyyyy?” Marina playfully whined.

Pearl puffs her cheeks and pouts. “Maybe.” Her act falters a bit as she lets out a chuckle, “You can stay if you behave.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Hey, it’s Ms. MC Princess/Baroness of Bars/Greatest Rapper of All Rhyme to you! You shall address me as such!”

“That’s a mouthful, _Pearlie_.”

“Insubordination! You shall receive a wicked tickling as punishment!”

After that declaration, a tickle war alongside a pillow fight soon ensued. Laughter filled the air as did pillows.

The two girls were left breathless and bubbly as they lay spread out on the bed. Winter chills long forgotten; pillows strewn everywhere. Pearl turned her head to look at Marina who was still giggling even though Pearl had stopped the tickle assault long ago. It was as if time had frozen and she was stuck in a beautiful painting with rich strokes of peach and rose. If she was, then she wouldn’t mind. Soft curves and warm colors. Being trapped in this moment with Marina and hung up on a white wall of some art museum for the rest of time. That wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

Marina turned towards Pearl, still smiling brilliantly. Neither said a word nor did they avert their eyes, instead their gazes softened.

Eventually, the taller girl moved and she made her way towards Pearl. Closer and closer. She wrapped her long arms around Pearl’s small frame and placed her head on the older girl’s petite chest. The Inkling silently longed for something more, but she would never risk losing these moments no matter how much it hurt.

“Thanks.”

Pearl softly hums in response.

“I feel a lot better now.”

“Do you want to talk about the nightmare?”

“You’re going to think it’s silly.”

“I won’t.”

“Promise?”

“Cross my hearts and hope to fly.”

Marina giggles, “I don’t think that’s how the saying goes, but okay.” She pauses before continuing slowly, “… I dreamt about you…”

As if Pearl’s hearts weren’t already beating a mile a minute. She swears that Marina is going to give her a legitimate heart attack one of these days. She sincerely hopes that Marina can’t feel her hearts banging against her chest. Or at least hopes that Marina thinks it's from the epic feathery battle that had just taken place.

“We were walking together on the beach and you were smiling at me," Marina recalled fondly. "But you pointed to something behind me and I turned. Nothing was there. I looked back to where you were, but you were gone. I searched everywhere, but I couldn’t find you. I called out for you, but you never came back.” The younger girl tightened her grip around the Inkling. "I woke up and I came looking for you..."

Pearl tried gathering her wits about and calming herself down. There was a moment of silence before she finally said, “Marina, that’s ridiculous.”

“Hey! You promised you wouldn’t think it was silly…”

“Oh, come on. I’d never leave your side. You’re stuck with me until the end of time – even beyond that. Tell your nightmares to pack up and leave you alone because I’m the only one allowed to bother you.” In a tone much gentler, she assured, “I’d never leave you alone.”

“Pearlieeeeeeee,” Marina said, voice muffled as she hid her face in Pearl’s shirt and tears welled up in her eyes.

“Geez, enough with the waterworks, ‘Rina,” Pearl mumbled. She gently stroked the back of Marina’s head. “You know I care about you.”

Marina pulled away enough to look at Pearl. Once again, eyes of pink and green met those of gold. Pearl held Marina in such a loving gaze and Marina’s focus couldn’t help but trail a little more south of the other girl's face. All of her features were so soft from her eyes to her cheeks. And even softer, looked the Inkling’s lips. Cod, Marina has always wondered just how soft they really were.

As if Pearl read her mind, she leaned in closer. But she hesitated and directed her attention towards Marina’s temple instead. She let her lips linger before pulling back and saying, “Now go to sleep you weirdo.”

That made Marina’s hearts race, but at the same time a small part of her couldn’t help but to feel slightly disappointed. Maybe it was the exhaustion that was giving her the courage to act a little more reckless. She leaned in close and planted a kiss on Pearl’s cheek then said, “Good night, Pearl. And you know, I care about you more.” To avoid facing the consequences of her action, she buried her face back into Pearl’s shirt. The force being exerted from her own hearts distracted her from noticing the drum solo being performed by Pearl’s.

Pearl stopped functioning for a while. By the time she finally regained her composure she found the Octoling fast asleep. She quietly muttered, “I care about you most,” before drifting into slumber.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a hopeless romantic, so I wanted Pearl and Marina to be the same. In the beginning, it was just hopeless romantic poet Pearl, but I decided to include Marina in the pining at the end. I'm a fool for mutual pining scenarios. Suffer with me. I like to think that they have a hard time saying "I love you" to each other and that they're both too scared to cross that friendship line. 
> 
> This was originally going to be Pearl reading a bed time story to Marina but it ended up being this. The title is in reference to a real picture book, Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. I was watching an episode of Friends and Joey read some passages from said book. I couldn't get the one verse out of my head, so that's what led to this which ended up not being about bed time stories at all - well not for the characters at least. Some people like to read something before going to bed (Yes, this is for you ;) ).
> 
> I’ll love you forever  
> I’ll like you for always  
> As long as I’m living  
> My baby you’ll be.
> 
> Maybe I will write that bed time story fic one day... (hahah, it's not happening)


End file.
